"After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (Gen. 15:1).
There must have remained a certain uneasiness as to whether or not Chedorlaomer might return with vengeance. To dispel the least suspicion of this, God said, "I am thy shield." Because all spoils of victory were forfeited, God said, "I am thy... reward."
Continued communion gives constant comfort. This fellowship with God brings simplicity and rest of heart; one is not afraid of "sudden fear." The soul turns to occupation with heavenly things.
Immediately Abram answered, "What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?... lo, one born in my house is mine heir" (Gen. 15:2,3).
He had no territory, no child, no heir only God, his Shield and exceeding great Reward.
"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which bath great recompence of reward" (heavenly) (Heb. 10:35).
How wonderful to have any portion with God. To be so close to Him as to read His mind is in itself grace of a highest character. "What wilt thou give me?" Abram had servants many, but no son, no one to call him "father." Heaven is full of servants to do God's bidding; angels are at His beck and call. If He desired more, He would create more. But sons! He has one Son Who is His full delight, but He would like heaven to be full of children to call Him "Father." This Abram had spelled out in the query, "What wilt thou give me?"
There was no child to fill the home with joy; consequently, there was no heir. What would become of the promises? Divine affection drew the heart in a path in which there could not have been rest short of its object.
Our heavenly home will not be a house of bondage.
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
What joy will fill heaven when we, with our Jesus Redeemer, enter with His introduction to the Father, "Behold I and the children which God hath given me." (Heb. 2:13).
Abram in communion was asking exactly what was in God's mind. He was quickly reminded that no servant would be his heir.
"But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir... Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars,... So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it" (Gen. 15:4-7).
These words were the oath of God to Abram.
Tremendous are the dimensions of God's providence; God cannot be debtor to anyone. Joy and peace are found in believing, not in seeing or doing.
Abram said, "Whereby shall I know?" Do not wonder at Abram when he asked, "Whereby shall I know?" but rather adore the love that bears with these frailties of ours. To have God is to have all; to be destitute of God is to be destitute indeed.
Why the delay in giving Abram a son? Why the delays in our lives? in the raising of Lazarus or Jairus' daughter? Because of the rich destiny in view! It is winter before spring, hunger before a feast.
What a tremendous work done in the soul of Abram! The art of educating man's spirit to the finest temper lies only with the "Father of spirits" (Heb. 12:9), "God of the spirits of all flesh" (Num. 16:22,27:16).
In human relationships, when the heart has found its rest in another, it can bear the test of delay and distance; how much more when a sense of trust lies between God and man.
Abram waxed strong in spirit; fully assured, he staggered not.
"Now faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For in the power of this the elders have obtained testimony" (Heb. 11:1, N.T.).
Somber Warp, Silver Woof
"And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will 1 judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (Gen. 15:9-16).
Abram was to have his answer for the surety of his inheritance by oath and by blood. And God said, "Take me an heifer,... and a she goat,... and a ram,... and a turtledove, and a young pigeon." All except the birds were divided in the midst, one piece against another, with a path between those pieces leading to the city with foundations. "When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." He went through the terror of death and its shadow in anticipation of the groans of God's people down through the ages. He defied the powers of darkness (fowls) in view of the sacrifice before him.
"And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmon ites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites" (Gen. 15:17-21).
When the sun went down, and it was dark, he beheld a smoking furnace of affliction and a burning lamp giving light across the desert to the promised land. The same day the covenant assured Abram of his seed and the border of the inheritance. The sacrifice together with the oath made the covenant sure.
Abram watched with God. No explanation was needed, just trust. Can we trust God so? Do you know for sure that in that day your heart shall be satisfied, and fully so? "Could ye not watch with me one hour," hours that build spirit life? Do we have to be told this?
Time passed no answer. Abram drove away the vultures, symbolic of wicked spirits which would rob us of our confidence and joy.
Hagar
"And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.... And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram" (Gen. 16:3,15,16).
Ten years passed. The trip into Egypt had left its evil fruit which was the maidservant Hagar's child. Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born. Natural resources had been resorted to, and now darkness covered Abram's soul because of his fall. Moral evil is not the subject here but rather substituting the flesh for God's power. Abram had lost, for a time, the truth of the all-sufficiency of God.
After this experience he was brought into reality with God with the depths of his soul probed, but since he was walking in the light he was given the sense of forgiveness. Although he was again brought into communion, there lingered a mixture of sadness and joy while the consciousness of truth deepened.
All of the saints' history is an exhibition of the hidden eternal counsels of the divine bosom, to be revealed later. Grace molds each act of the believer into that which will form his own character and will result in praise in that eternal day.
Thirteen more years passed; Abram was ninety-nine years old. We hear of no appearing on the part of God in the interval, while Abram was brought face to face with reality, feeling the full weight of what it is to walk by faith alone, fully trusting God for everything, not just saying so. These thirteen pensive years prepared Abram's and Sarai's hearts for the full, rich outpouring of all that prompted their hopes and expectations. The long patient life of faith was near its climax.